Why You Might Need to Roll Back Windows' Latest Update
Microsoft has added some cool new features, plus a few glaring bugs.
Jake Peterson Senior Technology Editor
Experience
Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Tech Editor, and has been covering tech news and how-tos for nearly a decade. His team covers all things technology, including AI, smartphones, computers, game consoles, and subscriptions.
August 31, 2026
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Key Takeaways
Microsoft's latest Windows update comes with cool new features that users have been asking for. Unfortunately, it comes with glaring bugs as well. The update makes it possible to move and resize the task bar, and introduces improvements to Windows Search. At the same time, it breaks the cursor, hiding it entirely or making it too small or large. In addition, your wallpaper may disappear, and fonts may be blurry. The only workaround at this time is uninstalling the latest update, which luckily isn't difficult or dangerous to do.Table of Contents
If you're the kind of person who installs Windows updates as soon as they hit your PC, you're likely running version KB5120998 of Windows 11 right now. Microsoft released it on Thursday, and while it's an optional update, it isn't locked behind its Windows Insider program. As such, anyone who has manually checked for new updates since then will have seen it, and could have installed it. Unfortunately, that might have been a mistake.
As reported by Windows Insider, the latest Windows 11 update is a big one. It includes some major updates to Windows customization, including changes that Microsoft has been testing for months. For example, the update lets you move and resize the taskbar however you like, and there are other changes that improve Windows Search for the better. These updates have previouly been exclusive to Insiders, but are now officially part of Windows 11. But it's not all good news.
Windows 11's latest update is buggy
In addition to these new features, it seems Microsoft inadvertently shipped some bugs with this update. Perhaps the most impactful of them, and the one most users will notice right away, is an issue where the cursor doesn't appear onscreen—or, when it does, it appears too big or too small. Some users report their cursors are enormous, while others find them annoyingly small. Unless you use your keyboard to control everything on your PC, losing access to your cursor isn't really an option, and even inconsistent UI experiences aren't really acceptable in 2026, considering Windows has had a cursor since 1985.
Luckily, Microsoft has a fix in the works. The company formally addressed the bug on a support page, stating, "Microsoft has received reports indicating that mouse cursor personalization settings are being changed or reverted to certain standard settings. This occurs following installation of Windows updates released August 27 2026 (KB5120998) and later."
It's not just the cursor causing issues, though. Following this update, Windows may forget your wallpaper settings, so your desktop appears black. You can bring your wallpaper back, but this glitch may occur every time you restart your PC. There are also reports that some fonts appear blurry, which would be particularly annoying on high-resolution displays.
What do you think so far?
How to roll back the latest Windows update
If you're experiencing any or all of these bugs, the only solution at this time appears to be rolling back the update. As Windows Latest highlights, users did see their cursors return to normal following the rollback, and those specific wallpaper glitches were only reported with this latest version.
Luckily, it isn't too difficult to uninstall a recent Windows update. To do so, head to Settings > Windows Update > Update History > Uninstall. Here, find the update (KB5120998), then choose "Uninstall." Windows Latest notes that because this update was optional, you won't lose any security patches this way. Hopefully, Windows' next update is a bit more stable than this one.
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